A former Marana police officer has been indicted on 25 felony
computer-tampering charges and two felony charges of trafficking in
the identity of another person.

Calvin Ingram, 39, who was with the Marana Police Department for
more than 10 years, stands accused of exploiting his access to
restricted databases to search the private information of at least
25 people. Law enforcement officials use the databases — Coplink,
Spillman and others — to conduct criminal investigations.

Ingram's attorney said state investigators have exaggerated
their case against his client, based largely on a lack of
familiarity with how police work gets done.

According to the indictment, at least two of the people Ingram
searched have public profiles: former University of Arizona
softball player Taryne Mowatt, and local television newscaster
Heather Rowe. Authorities have not identified specific connections
between Ingram and the people whose names he ran through the
databases.

Ingram searched the databases, which house sensitive information
such as driver's license numbers, home addresses and criminal
histories, for non-law enforcement purposes, according to a release
from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.

State officials also say Ingram shared the information with
people not in law enforcement.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Jette is prosecute the case
for the state in Pima County Superior Court.

Indictment documents say that Ingram used his work computer to
illegally access personal information on people at least 89 times
between October 2008 and September 2009.

Ingram's attorney said he was certain that most of the database
searches his client conducted were legitimate, but allowed that
some may have been for personal reasons.

"This is a very common policy violation," Storie said, adding,
"This is the first time I've ever seen this actually charged as a
crime."

Storie also said Ingram did not use the information he may have
obtained for personal gain.

Following internal investigations, Ingram was fired from the
police department with cause on Sept. 21. His status was listed as
ineligible for re-hire.

At the time of his firing, Ingram sent an e-mail to Marana Chief
of Police Terry Tometich extolling his innocence.

"Sir, I do not believe I have committed any offense that
warrants termination," Ingram wrote in a Sept. 21 e-mail.

He also indicated plans to appeal if he was terminated. An
appeal hearing of his firing is scheduled for Jan. 21.

Internal memos provided by the Marana Police Department reveal
in greater depth some of the issues surrounding Ingram.

On March 26, Ingram was seen speeding to work at the Ina Road
substation shortly before a 10 p.m. briefing was scheduled to start
with the emergency lights of his police car activated. The document
indicates that Ingram was not responding to an emergency at that
time.

FBI agents who were conducting surveillance on him at the time
reported the incident to Ingram's supervisors.

Tometich said the help of the FBI was solicited because the
Marana Police Department has limited resources to conduct
surveillance.

The internal memos also say Ingram looked up information about
the ex-boyfriend of a woman he had a relationship with. Ingram is
accused of sharing that information with the woman. He also
searched her in the databases.

Transcripts of an interview with the former boyfriend who
reported the incident indicate that Ingram may have been meeting
with the woman during work hours.

Marana police also interviewed the woman, who confirmed that
Ingram shared the information with her. She also told investigators
that on at least one occasion she met and kissed Ingram in a field
near her parents' house while he was on duty.

The documents describe another incident in which Marana police
responded to a house where an 18-year-old woman was threatening
suicide.

After question the woman and her parents, police discovered she
was involved in a relationship with Ingram. Police confiscated a
small amount of heroin and drug paraphernalia from the woman.

Marana officers later made contact with a probation officer
possibly assigned to the same woman who said Ingram had been paying
the living and drug-court expenses of the woman and that the two
had lived together from November 2008 to May 2009. The woman's name
was redacted from the documents.

According to the Marana police documents, Ingram also looked up
private information on his live-in girlfriend, two fellow officers
and one former Marana police officer.

Storie said any attempts to use past or unproven allegations
against Ingram in the current case would amount to piling on.

"They bootstrap old and unfounded allegations only trying to
dirty up actual allegations," Storie said.

In March 2000, a 15-year-old girl accused him of kissing her on
three occasions while she was a participant in the Marana Police
Explorers, a group facilitated by officers where youths can learn
about police work.

The department, under former Chief David Smith, investigated the
girl's claims and had Ingram submit to a polygraph test, which he
passed.

The Arizona Attorney General also conducted an investigation
into the allegation at the request of the girl's parents. The
investigation was closed.

Around the same time, another teen-aged girl made similar
allegations against Ingram, which also were dismissed. Ingram was
named in three internal investigations in 1999 and 2000, according
to Explorer archives. He was cleared in all cases.